The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity has called for the withdrawal of the latest fuel price hike, saying it was announced suddenly at midnight despite falling global fuel prices.
In a statement sent to the media on Sunday morning, the organisation’s Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made the demand.
The statement said global fuel prices are currently on a downward trend, while Bangladesh is facing economic instability amid rising commodity prices, inflation and growing unemployment caused by factory closures linked to fuel shortages.
The organisation said the new government had raised fuel prices twice within seven months of taking office, which it said would push up fares and prices for public transport, goods transportation and industrial production.
It urged the government to withdraw the latest hike and restore the previous fuel prices.
The statement said the government could subsidise the fuel sector in the public interest, particularly amid the country’s economic difficulties.
“Keeping the economy running by subsidising the fuel sector and reducing inflation to support people facing hardship is the government’s responsibility,” Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said.
